Giacchino is the man who does the score for TV's Lost. I love him. I listen to a wide variety of music, but when I write I love Movie and TV scores. My top five:1. Michael Giacchino2. James Newton Howard3. Bernard Herrmann4. Howard Shore5. John Williams

I love Clint as well. In hindsight, I'll have to rethink my top five, Mansell's score for The Fountain and Requiem for a Dream is amazing. He also has two tracks on Smokin Aces that are pretty awesome.

Mansell's amazing, but it's probably worth mentioning that he used to be the lead singer for Pop Will Eat Itself, and is therefore responsible for late-period PWEI crimes against music like "X, Y and Z". (Hans Zimmer was apparently in Shriekback at some point. Just thought it was worth mentioning.)

I like Cliff Martinez, who works with Soderbergh a lot -- my personal favorite is his score for Solaris, which I actually listen to a lot.

David Byrne's supposed to be (or already has) putting out his score for Big Love, the HBO show about polygamists. Which should be interesting.

Guys, don't forget James Newton Howard. His scores on all of M. Night Shyamalan's movies were absolutely amazing. Shyamalan's films can be debateable (I generally like them all, but I know a majority of people hate him) But, Howard's music is perfect. He also did Batman Begins, the forthcoming sequel, and King Kong. He has more, but these are the ones that stand out.

Back to Giacchino, he did a an amazing job on the video game Medal of honor: Frontline, and also the end credits to Cloverfield (the song is called Roar! and its terrific).

Devil Music Ensemble: write new scores for silent films like Dr. Caligar, Nosferatu, etc... and perform them live. a real treat. lots of spirally violin work. the main composer did "Darkon"'s soundtrack as well.

Nico Muhly's work on "Joshua" is good. very still. very forboding. no clue about whether it's fit for the movie, haven't seen it.

I didn't realize how much John Murphy i listen to until last.fm spit out the stats for "28 Weeks Later" soundtrack, which i, statistically now, love.

Jonny Greenwood's strings on "There Will Be Blood" hooked me at the first trailer. i have to hunt down the first one he did. "Body Music" i think?

I like Giacchino for the most part, though I hate what he does on LOST.

I'm not a fan of much of what Elfman has done in the last ten years or so, but I love his early work with Burton and some of his lesser known scores, including Black Beauty and Sommersby. I think the Edward Scisssorhands score was great, and back in the day, it was a big part of what made me want to score films myself.

While I do think Williams is generally a little overrated, the fact remains that he has written a huge percentage of film's most memorable themes, including the theme for Jaws, which, consisting of only two notes, is pretty clever in its execution, in my book.

Herrmann, Morricone and Goldenthal....I almost feel as though there's no need to justify those, but I'll say that their work shows not only a very keen understanding of how to use music to bring a film to its full potential, but a fabulously well developed set of compositional skills in general....

I agree that williams is overrated a bit, I guess I just love the score to all the Indy flicks!

I also like Danny Elfman, but only certain movies, have you ever heard his stuff on the movie Nightbreed? Its a cool cult movie written and I think directed by Clive Barker (not sure if he directed). Anyway, I really like the score to it.

Of course, I believe Bernard Herrmann to be absolutely the best, I feel alot of the popular composers of modern day drew influence from his work. I love his stuff from the Twilight Zone... of course I love EVERYTHING about the Twilight Zone!

I love John Williams, the amount of iconic soundtracks he has composed is amazing. He's a master at contributing on a scene without overdoing it and turning it into cheap melodrama. I also like James Newton Howard, James Horner (despite his hideous work on "Glory"), Bernard Hermann (Taxi Driver's theme is mag-fucking-nificent), I like Giacchino too for his excellent work in "Lost" (the episode where we see Benjamin Linus' life has a beautiful soundtrack) and "The Incredibles", Danny Elfman, Philip Glass, Hans Zimmer, Ennio Morricone, Clint Mansell... damn, only now I realize how many. If I had to choose some favorites: Williams, Morricone and Hermann.

@ Amanda"While I do think Williams is generally a little overrated, the fact remains that he has written a huge percentage of film's most memorable themes, including the theme for Jaws, which, consisting of only two notes, is pretty clever in its execution, in my book."

Williams might be overrated, but whenever I'm feeling sluggish, if I put on Williams' score to Superman (main theme), I soon feel ready to leap tall building myself -- possibly more effective than coffee.

I really like Marco Beltrami's quirky score for Hellboy, especially the main B.P.R.D. theme.

ok, first off, let me just say that I CANNOT believe that when I was making my first post I neglected to put Jerry Goldsmith on there. It's going to have to be my top 6 because I really don't want to knock anyone else off, but I can't not include him. He was amazing.

with that out of the way.....

@NickG-

I don't like the music in Lost because I feel that it is overly simple and often doesn't really fit the scene. It sticks out in a way thats annoying to me, and doesn't support the emotion being portrayed. That being said, I don't mean to slight Giacchino, honestly its mostly a matter of personal preference, and I love other work he's done, particularly on The Incredibles.

I have heard the Nightbreed score, and feel that it far outshines the movie itself. Heh. That, for me, was a case in which I heard the score first and watched the movie afterwards because of it. If you take a close listen, you'll find that a lot of the stuff he was working on there comes out in full force in Nightmare Before Christmas. It almost sounds as if he was working up to that score in the score for Nightbreed.

@mlpeters and Andrenavarro-

I do love Williams. Remember, I did afterall place him in my top 5. He's done some great work. I just feel that others have done great work as well, some as good as his and some better, and haven't gotten as much acclaim for it.

I love Marco Beltrami as well. He's great. And Silvestri. And Christopher Young. And Mark Snow. And Angelo Badalamenti.

I'm glad that someone mentioned his score for SPEED RACER (Which I really dug as a movie, if you can believe it!). Same as with THE INCREDIBLES, he is SO attentive to pulling the good stuff out of the era that spawned it and giving it back to you in a way that doesn't make you feel stupid. His SPEED RACER music got me really revved up during the film, same with the INCREDIBLES, it did a masterful job matching the action.

Does anyone Know who did the score for Danny Boyle's Sunshine. I liked it.

Also, and I know I've said it earlier, Clint Mansell's score for Requiem for a Dream is amazing. I love every track.

Amanda,I completely disagree (in a good humored way, I'm not being an ass) about the score for Lost! I'm actually amazed that you feel it doesn't convey emotion or fit with the show, I think it fits like a glove... ON the other hand, I kinda have a soft spot/hard on (if that is possible) for all things Lost, Its just one of the few things that brings out all my Geekness!